Thomas Merton & David Jones:

Celtic Visionaries for our Time and Why we Need to Attend to them

Saturday, September 30, 2017

2:00-4:00 p.M.

Join us as Dr. Michael Higgins explores the key ideas that linked Merton with Celtic poet David Jones in their shared dread and abhorrence of violence. In a time of national foreboding and menace, the liberating insights of these two kindred spirits--particularly the need to create a culture of peace grounded in the witness of the Prince of Peace--has never been more timely for Americans.

Both Thomas Merton and David Jones, visual artist and poet, had much in common: they were Celtic dreamers, Catholic writers with an ennobling sense of history. They possessed a deep reverence for nature, and shared a profound personal commitment to the creation and fostering of peace. Merton said of Jones in a journal entry, “David Jones. Rich, exciting, resonant, witty, Catholic poetry: the only really good Catholic poet writing in English that I know of. . . .”

Dr. Michael W. Higgins is an author, scholar, Vatican Affairs Specialist for The Globe and Mail, Papal Commentator for the CTV Network, educator, CBC Radio documentarian, columnist, and currently Distinguished Professor of Catholic Thought at Sacred Heart University.

He has edited, co-authored and authored scores of books including The Jesuit Mystique, Power and Peril: The Catholic Church at the Crossroads, Heretic Blood: The Spiritual Geography of Thomas Merton, The Muted Voice: Religion and the Media, Stalking the Holy: The Pursuit of Saint-Making, Suffer the Children Unto Me: An Open Inquiry Into the Clerical Sex Abuse Scandal, Genius Born of Anguish: The Life and Legacy of Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Unquiet Monk: Thomas Merton’s Questing Faith, Jean Vanier: Logician of the Heart. A columnist over the years for The Toronto Star, Telegraph-Journal, The Record, and The Catholic Register on media matters, literary issues and Catholicism, he currently has a monthly column on the American Church for the Dublin-based Irish Catholic. He is also a regular contributor to Commonweal (New York), The Literary Review of Canada, and The Tablet (London). He is the recipient of many awards, including two honorary doctorates.

Time: 2:00 - 4:00 PMWe invite you to come early and/or mingle afterwards to enjoy discussions with our guest speaker and other friends of Merton.

Cost:Free for Members & Students; $20 for Non-MembersMembers will need to renew their annual membership for the new 2017/18 season before registering for this event. To do so, please go to our membership page and register to renew your desired membership level. Then return here to register for this event.